Being a Service engineer in a bakery industry, proper operation of oven is essential to achieve your targeted production output, but keeping them properly lubricated can be a challenging task. Extreme temperatures, food safety, continuous operation and in some cases – exposure to flour dust and sugar are typical challenges, affect the performance of lubricants. Chain is the critical lubricating point in the baking oven. Broadly, the chains in the oven are classified in to two basic designs based on the type of lubricant required. One is the chain with oil lubrication and the other is the chain with grease lubrication.
The common problems in operating the oil lubricated chains are carbon residue formation and chain elongation, arising out of usage of inferior lubricant. The conventional lubricants tend to quickly evaporate under high operating temperatures, leaving behind dirty, black carbon residues. They are also unable to lubricate the chain properly which results in its elongation. The problems in operating the grease lubricated chains are short re-lubrication intervals and, in most cases, bearing failures, both arising out of usage of inferior lubricants. The total costs arising from component failure like chain failure and bearing failure, should not be underestimated, as it results in chain reactions like – investment to be made on new component, line stop, unexpected maintenances and etc. Bearing failure will result in minimum one day line stoppage: half a day to replace the component and rest of the day to restart the oven. This kind of line stoppage will negatively impact the production targets of the unit. Furthermore, usage of improper lubricant will also lead to rise in friction, forcing the oven to draw more energy than required, culminating in higher energy bills. The fact that sometimes there is a chance of accidental contact of lubricant with the food product, selecting the right lubricant becomes even more critical. For, the lubricant designed for oven has to ensure not only the technical performance expected of it but also food safety. Even a minor contamination of food product with lubricant, which cannot always be technically avoided, can have severe consequences.
